Concert review: Dance-pop sensation Dua Lipa has Singapore crowd ‘levitating’

Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism Tour

Singapore Indoor Stadium
Nov 5

The words “training season’s over” flashed on the screen as British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa took the Singapore Indoor Stadium stage on Nov 5 to kick off her Radical Optimism Tour.

These are lyrics from the first song on her set list, Training Season – off her third album Radical Optimism (2024).

But, as the 29-year-old demonstrated over the next 105 minutes, they are also fighting words that she lives by. 

She has had a busy summer season headlining festival sets, including Glastonbury in June, and performing stand-alone concerts, such as a lauded orchestral set at London’s Royal Albert Hall in mid-October.

But she showed zero signs of fatigue as she danced and sang her way through 21 songs from across her three studio albums, including Dua Lipa (2017) and Future Nostalgia (2020).

She plays a second show on Nov 6, and Singapore is the first stop on her world tour that ends in October 2025. 

There were no baked-in viral moments or elaborately designed stage set-ups, as concertgoers might have seen at gigs by other “pop girlies” in the last two years. Instead, the focus was on putting on a fun and surprisingly family-friendly rave party with Lipa’s most popular and infectious dance hits, from New Rules to Levitating.   

Only one track, Anything For Love from Radical Optimism, was played as a slow ballad.

The only other slower moments of the night came from four or so costume changes – all variations on shiny black outfits that showcased Lipa’s enviably long legs and toned figure – and occasional talk breaks for her to introduce songs or chat with her fans.

The singer included some audio clips from the classic Jane Fonda Workout videos of the 1980s to get the roughly 9,000-strong audience properly warmed up before the start of the show at 8.20pm. 

“We haven’t been back here since 2018,” she noted, apologising to the crowd for being unable to bring her Future Nostalgia Tour in 2022 to Singapore due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

She held a solo concert at The Star Theatre in 2018 and was also part of the entertainment line-up of the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix that year.

While Lipa’s banter was warm and encouraging, the audience needed some time to fully let loose. But this was not due to any lack of trying on her part, her live band or her troupe of sleek dancers who were on stage with her for most of the concert.

She might have once been cruelly mocked on the internet for so-called lazy dance moves, but haters would be hard-pressed to criticise her now.

Almost every song had a break programmed for her and her crew to slide into yet another fierce dance sequence. But Lipa never missed her beat and her signature deep vocals never wavered. 

The effort paid off. By the time the pop star reached the final third of her show, everyone was up on their feet to rapturously sing and dance to her biggest hits, including Physical, Dance The Night from the Barbie (2023) movie soundtrack and Don’t Start Now. 

She ended the show with a disappearing act appropriate for the final song, Houdini. But fans were clearly still “levitating” when the lights came up, singing as they left the venue, clearly eager to continue dancing the night away.